Do you have a favourite club? I've been asking friends and I have had some interesting answers and if I had picked each one's favourite, I would have exceeded my allocation of 14! The answers went from a driver because it starts a game off well, if you can land a ball further along the fairway than your opponent, through to the putter because that is where you finish a hole.
It was a very interesting, if somewhat unscientific, study of golfers.
I mention this to tell you about my favourite club and to give you some food for thought.
My favourite club has been and always will be my 7 iron.
Some of it is sentimental as it was the first club I ever swung and the one I had lessons with.
But let me tell you the practical reasons why I like it so much.
It is a versatile club that can be used in a number of situations.
Put the ball a bit forward in your stance, keep your right shoulder low and when you hit through you will get a high shot.
Put the ball back in your stance and let your hands lead the club through the shot and you have a punchy low shot.
You can draw or fade the ball for those tricky little dog-legs.
If you land in a fairway bunker, you can get the ball out and moving towards the pin.
And just last week when I was playing, I hit a cracking 1 wood at a 295 yard par 4 and ended up just short of the green.
But what to do next? Do I try to lob the ball and land it near the pin? I used my 7-iron almost as a putter and got the ball up in the air no more than 6 inches and it ran to within a foot of the hole.
I then made a birdie.
Yes, I know that without the first big hit, I would not have been in that position, but rather than trying to hit a ball in the air to plonk you hit through, you will be amazed at how accurate you will be.
And THAT is why my 7 iron is my favourite club.
Now go out and give it a go and make one your favourite and practice with it.
It works.